So, you think those cups of java provide you with “the shots” to get you through the day? Wrong.
The fact is that coffee does not energize – but instead fools your body into thinking it has more energy than it actual does. Consider that your body functions by first storing and then drawing on energy called adenosine triphosphate (ATD). That cup of coffee works with the ATD process in two ways to give you a false sense of being energized.
1) Caffeine will block adenosine from binding together and it delays your energy from being stored.
2) It also blocks signals to inform your body that it is out of energy – in other words, it tricks your body into thinking that it has a store of energy.
Research tells us that the effects of caffeine can kick in within 10 minutes and last up to 4-6 hours! In that time, your body’s energy is not being stored properly and you are being tricked into thinking you have more energy than you actually do. (That’s not a jolt as much as it is a double whammy!) That’s why when the effect of caffeine runs out, you will “crash” as your body is trying to use ATP it doesn’t have.*
Still, really, what would we do without our coffee?
* Source: http://7bigspoons.com/nootropics/caffeine/how-caffeine-works/
